"Innovators in China powered global patent applications to a new record in 2015, filing more than a million applications for the first time ever within a single year amid rising worldwide demand for intellectual property rights that undergird economic activity,according to a report issued by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) recently. "China has prioritized innovation in national development policies by advocating mass entrepreneurship and innovation. The reform has been promoted and innovative energy has been released. Besides, the Chinese government and companies have increased their spending on R&D, that is the major reason for this rise," said WIPO China Office Director Chen Hongbing.

Chinese innovators filed the most patent applications in 2015, an increase of 18.7% over 2014. This totaled almost as many applications as the USPTO, JPO and KIPO combined.

Around 1.24 million patents were granted worldwide in 2015, up 5.2% on 2014. This was due mainly to an increase of grants in China, which issued 359,316 patents in 2015 to surpass the U.S. (298,407) as the largest patent issuing office. An estimated there are 10.6 million effective patents around the globe in 2015. About 14% of these were in China, following the US and Japan. SIPO became the first office to receive more than a million applications in a single year.

In terms of trademark application, an estimated 6 million trademark applications, or 8.4 million with class count, were filed globally in 2015, which represents the highest growth since 2000. China with classes count of 2.83 million, up by 27.4%, saw by far the highest trademark filing activity in 2015. Around 4.4 million trademark registrations or 6.2 million with classes count were recorded worldwide in 2015. This was a 26.6% increase on 2014 and the fastest growth in over 15 years.

"The achievements China made in intellectual property have reflected that China’s IP system is continuing to improve and constantly show its vigor. IP awareness is also elevating. All these indicators proved that China has made positive progress in building of innovation ecological system," Chen Hongbing adds.

Source: China IP News